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Hill Farmstead’s Mary

Poured into an Alchemist glass even though I own an HF glass because I will god-damned if I’m gonna drink a pilsener out of a chalice. Also, side note, why does Alchemist make glasses if you’re supposed to drink all their beers right out of the can? I am the only one of you people who’s paying any attention? What about ETHICS IN BEER JOURNALISM?!? We need a #drunkardgate, only instead of being mean to women on twitter we’ll base it around getting wasted ethically. Everyone wins.

Okay, so I had this at Hill Farmstead’s newly opened taproom, where you can get full pours. I was already drunk and palette-wrecked off of Heady, so I’m glad I had sense enough to discard my notes and take home a 750 of this.

It pours like a nice Euro pils—dark gold, filtered, with a steady white head that laces mightily.

Smells fantabulous. Mild herbal profile against aggressive, dry German hops that could easily be mistaken for Saaz. The German grain aromas become more pronounced as I gain familiarity with the beer and it ends up tasting like an absolutely perfect blend between a Municher and a Czech pils (although the hops are German, they’re aggressive and spicy enough to resemble Czech beers).

Tastes like it smells: a wonderfully balanced-yet-aggressive pils. Medium grain, big hops, kiss of yeast, and then zero esters. Finishes dry as can be.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a good, fresh Prima Pils, and even longer since I had FFF’s criminally underrated Czech Booty Camp, so I can’t say for sure that Mary unseats either of them as the best American-brewed pils. I can say, however, that it easily sit alongside them in the upper tier.